Skating to the Championships
by DauntlessPokemonRide
Summary: Tris is a professional ice skater and Tobias is on the hockey team. What happens when they are forced to skate together? Can they form a good bond, or will their Olympic dreams go up in flames?
1. Tris's Skate

Chapter 1

_Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing._

_~Vince Lombardi_

**Tris POV**

I stood outside the ice rink. I had trained to ice skate all my life. I always tried to be confident when I competed. I don't know why I've been so nervous lately. It probably has to do with the upcoming Olympics. They're in Los Angeles this year, and I want to make the Olympic team.

Turning, I walked out of the rink and made my way to the mall. It's a good thing I have some time to relax. Christina is dragging me to the mall. It's not that I like shopping that much anyway. I have been stressed out too much lately.

I told Christina that I would meet her at the mall. I didn't feel like getting my outfit chosen today. Once I got there, Christina started talking to me about my bad outfit choice. I just laughed, knowing that there was nothing she could do now.

Christina dragged me into a clothes shop. "You are going to buy something," she told me. "You are too stressed, Tris. You don't see me worrying about the next competition, do you?"

I ended up being forced to buy a short black dress. "I'll never wear it," I had complained to Christina.

"Then I'll buy it for you," she had replied.

Then next day, I meet Christina at the ice rink. We were scheduled to train today. Our instructor was named Anna. She recently had hired an assistant. The assistant's name is Will.

I slide out onto the ice. This is where I feel at home. I glance over at Christina, who is talking to Will. I skate over to Anna, to see what we need to do.

"Tris," she says, "how are you? You can warm up with jumps. I want you to practice your routine today. With the upcoming competition, I want you to look your best. If you place there, then there'll be no doubt that you'll make the Olympic team."

I look over at Anna, and nod my head. Next to me, Christina laughs loudly. I skate over to her and pull her away from Will.

"Flirting, I see," I tell Christina, teasing.

"It's the most interesting thing I get to do all day," she teases back.

"Even better than watching the hockey team?"

"Close." We both laugh. The hockey team practices after us. Sometimes, we share the rink and warm up together.

I begin to focus on my routine. I don't want to mess things up during this run. Time goes by, and I haven't done a routine that I'm proud of yet. I look over my shoulder at Christina. Her routine is pretty good. Looking over at Anna, I can see that she's proud of my routine. Will looks proud too. If only I could make myself proud. Sighing, I powered through the rest of practice without making myself proud.

After practice, Anna pulled me aside. "Tris," she says," try to be happy."

I am surprised by her comment. "How can I be happy if I can't do things right?" I complain.

"If you enjoy yourself more on the rink, you'll look more relaxed to your audience."

"But I'm not performing."

"It makes good practice. When you're out on ice, try to get comfortable. Christina does. It makes the routine that much more special."

"I'll try."

"Good. There's no practice tomorrow. You can still come to skate, but you'll have to skate with the hockey team."

"Nah, I'll skip. Bye Anna."

"Bye, Tris."

I walk out of the rink. The hockey players are nice, but they're always fighting, and competing with each other. The players are Uriah and Zeke Pedrad, Four, who likes to keep his name private, Peter Hayes, who I hate, Al, and my brother Caleb.

On my way out I see the hockey team. I wave to my brother, Caleb. As I wave I crash into someone. Looking up, I see that I crashed into Four. "I am so sorry," I say.

"I'm fine," he says. "Playing hockey does have its benefits."

"Okay," I say and walk away.

"I hope you are okay," I hear Four call out.

"I'm fine," I grumble under my breath. I see Will waiting outside the door.

"Don't mind him," Will says. "The hockey team is bothersome.

"How would you know?" I ask.

"I used to know some of them. I practiced with them, until I realized that I really sucked at skating."

We both laugh. "Anyway," I say, "what are you doing here?"

"I was waiting for Anna," Will says. "There was something I needed to ask her."

"About?" I say curiously.

"You'll see," Will says. "She might not agree with what I say. Even if she does, there's no guarantee that it'll work."

"Does it involve me?"

"Maybe."

"Yes or no. I won't leave you alone without an answer."

"Sure."

"Try me." I move every time Will moves. Even when he walks away I follow him.

"You're going to miss Anna, you know. And why didn't you tell her in the rink?" I ask.

"There were too many people," he replies.

"So does it involve me, or not." I see Anna exiting the rink. I step forward to block Will's path.

"Fine, it does," he says. "I have to go now." He lightly shoves me aside, and runs over to talk to Anna.

Once I get home, I call Christina and tell her what Will said. "Looks like stubbornness pays off," she told me, laughing.

"I hope it's not something too bad," I say. "I don't want to get trampled by the hockey team."

"Or moved to another rink,"

"Or kicked out of the skating program."

"Or run over by camels." I laugh at Christina's absurd comment.

"Where will they get camel?" I ask.

"You can import them. They might sell them at Camel-lot."

"Camelot is King Arthur's kingdom. They don't sell camels there."

"Well, there goes my idea. It's not my fault I've only been taught by a hired tutor."

"Same," I say. "Five hours of practice a day eliminates the chance to go to school. At least we get the day off tomorrow."

"About that," Christina says. "Will texted me and said that we had to go to the skate tomorrow. He's got something planned."

"I'll come. Bye Christina." I shut down the phone. Figures that my only day off would be ruined. But I wonder what we're going to do.

* * *

**That's Chapter one. I know it may be bad, but I promise the next chapters will be better. Life caught up with me, and I barely finished this chapter in time. I wanted to publish one chapter in each story by tomorrow. Thank's for reading. Remember R&R**

**~DauntlessPokemonRide**


	2. The First Skate

Chapter 2

"_Like so many things, it is not what's on the outside, but inside that counts." _

_~ Merchant, Aladdin_

**Tris POV**

The next morning, I walked over to Christina's house. The skate is only for two hours in the afternoon. I just need to chill out. I could easily get stressed out by giving something too much thought. This was probably nothing. Will and Anna just want us to practice skating.

Turning, I reached Christina's house. After I knocked on the door, she let me in.

"Trissy!" she exclaimed. "So glad you could come."

"Okay, Chrissy," I tease back. "What do you want to do?"

"Oh…" she says. "Let's watch a movie."

We ended up ordering a pizza and watching The Lion King. I felt so relaxed. I laughed so hard when Timon and Pumbaa were dancing hula, and when they were crying. By the time the movie ended our giggles had subsided.

Looking at the clock, I realized that the practice began in twenty minutes. "Christina, I have to go home and change. If I don't go now, I'll never make it."

"See you there Trissy," she said as I exited her home.

I dressed quickly, and made my way to the rink. I saw Christina waiting with a few members of the hockey team.

Christina came over when she saw me come through the door. "We're skating with the hockey team. Will told me that we will get paired up with someone and skate. It's for practice. Everyone gets to skate with everyone. It'll be fun."

"Yeah," I say. I like skating, but not with strangers. I only pair skated once, and that was with my brother Caleb. I was teaching him how to skate that time. Well, the sooner it starts, the sooner I can get this over with.

Five minutes later, Will and Anna come up to everyone. "Thanks for coming!" Anna said. "This won't take that long, I promise."

After surveying the room, Anna says-"Oh my. It looks like we're missing someone."

"Yeah," says a hockey player. Al, I think. "Peter had something to do today, or he just didn't want to come. Bottom line, he's not here."

"Looks like someone's going to have to sit out every round. Maybe you can join them Will."

"No, I'm good." Will says.

Anna whispers something into Will's ear. "Fine," he said. "I'll go those two times because there's nothing to observe. But, I won't go any other time. I stink, remember?"

"You're not that bad," Anna replies. "So, we have Uriah, Zeke, Al, Four, Caleb, Christina, and Tris. First, let's have Uriah and Zeke skate together. Four will skate with Christina. Caleb, you skate with your sister. Al, you can sit outside the rink. You guys will skate for five minutes before we announce the new partners. Will and I will wait outside the rink at all times."

I skate onto the rink, and wait for Caleb. He has become a much better skater, though I'm sure he only learned how to skate so he could play ice hockey. Looking up, I see Caleb sliding on the ice. I wait for him to come over.

"Do you know what this is about, Beatrice?" he asks me. Everyone but my family calls me Tris. My family insists on calling me Beatrice.

"No," I said. "I thought you might know something."

"Well, you guess wrong. We haven't skated together since you taught me how to skate."  
"I know. It was so much fun before. Now, I'm not sure I want to skate with anyone. Skating with you and Christina is okay, but I don't know anybody else."

"You'll be fine, Beatrice. Just try to have a good time. All of the hockey players are good guys. Peter does have a bad reputation, though. Some players don't like him, but he isn't here. Just relax."

"I'll try, Caleb. I'll try."

We skate around for a while, and then Will calls the partner switch. I quickly skate over to Christina. "I'm with Al this round," she says. "Four is okay. Are you going to be fine, Tris?"

"Of course," I say smiling. I skate over Zeke, my next partner.

**Will POV**

Anna and I were watching Tris and Christina skate with their partners. They were doing well for skating purposes, but not for our purposes. Anna and I stood away from Al so he wouldn't overhear our plan.

"They aren't right," I tell Anna.

"At least we still have more chances," she says. "We need to find their pairs today, Will. Or else they won't have enough time to practice for the upcoming Olympics. I fear it may be too late for them anyway."

"We have to try," I say firmly. "The head of the US Olympics wouldn't have contacted us if he thought we couldn't do it."

"Yes, but most people train with their pairs for years. If they make the team, I'll be surprised if the place. So far, we haven't found anyone."

Looking around, I see that the current pairs are worse than the others. "Yeah, this round is bad. Who should we have go next?"

"Let's have Tris go with Al, and Christina with Zeke. That way we have them out of the way."

"Okay. Let's go announce it."

* * *

Tris did okay with Al. It was better than all the other, though. She ended up pushing Uriah onto the ice. He landed on his butt, and that would make them lose. It was funny, but not what we wanted. Zeke was just as bad. I just talked to Tris when I skated with her. Anna filmed it, and we did okay, but not as good as Al, I hope.

The same went for Christina. Al was bad. Caleb didn't do great either. Zeke and Uriah… well, let's just say that I don't think they'll find a partner. Ever.

Finally it was time for the last pairs. I was stuck with Christina, and Tris would skate with Four. I didn't really want to skate with Christina.

I must've looked nervous, because Anna said, "You'll do fine, Will. I'll film it for you to watch. Have fun." She pushes me onto the rink, and announces the pairs.

**Tris POV**

I hear Anna announce the final pairs. I already know that I have to skate with Four though.

"Tris and Four." I hear Anna announce. While I skate over, I stop in front of Christina.

"I'm skating with Will," she squeaks. "Good luck with Four. He didn't say anything to me. At all."

"Will did the opposite of that. We talked the whole time." Christina and I skated away, towards our partners.

I see Four at the other side of the rink. I skate toward him, and fall next to him.

"Hi." I say.

He just nods his head as a greeting. Christina was right. He doesn't seem like he wants to talk.

"So," I say, "you know my brother, Caleb?"

"Yeah," Four says. "He's a good guy, and a good hockey player."

"What's your position?" I ask.

"I'm a forward," he says.

"Do you know what this about?" I ask.

"Not a clue," he responds.

Four speeds up a bit, and so do I. He skates as fast as I do, but I doubt he can do any tricks. I look over at Anna, who is smiling for the first time today. She looks over at me and smiles. Then, she glances at her phone, where it seems that she's recording Will and Christina. "We're done," she calls out.

"Nice skating with you," Four says as he skates away.

We all gather around Anna once we take off our skates. "Thanks for helping with this experiment," she says. "For the final part, we will call some of you back. Most of you won't get called back. I still need to discuss this with Will, of course. But as of now, these people need to come back. Christina, Four, and Tris."

I deflate as she mentions my name. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to continue with this experiment.

"Everyone else," she continues, "will not have practice tomorrow. You all can leave.

Turning to us, she begins to speak again. "As for you three, come from 8AM to 1PM. That should be enough to finish this. Will, you will come to."

"What is this about, Anna?" I ask. "I know we'll find out if it's successful, but I want to know what I'll be spending five hours doing."

"If you want to know, hang out here for a few minutes. I need to discuss this with Will first. It won't take longer than fifteen minutes." Anna beckons Will over to a side. They begin to chat, and Anna shows him some videos on her phone.

"You guys going to wait or leave?" I ask Christina and Four.

"I'll stay," Christina says.

"Same," Four says. "Five hours is a lot of time. I hope it's not for nonsense."

We walk over and sit down by the arcade. Christina leans over to me and whisper, "He actually talks!"

"Doesn't everyone?" I whisper back.

"Yeah, but he never answered my questions. He basically told me to back off."

I laugh, and wait for Will and Anna to come with the explanation we've all been waiting for.

**Will POV**

I follow Anna and she takes out her phone. "Here are the videos of the two most successful rounds. They happened when you were skating."

Suddenly, I was nervous. What if I had to skate with Tris? She's very serious about her work. At least she's dedicated. The only problem is that I suck. Christina is very nice, but I'm afraid things might get awkward after a while. At least she won't mind that I suck at skating.

The first video is of Four and Tris skating. They skate next to each other with ease, just like a pair skater would. They were just that good.

"They have to skate together." I tell Anna. "It can't be any other way."

"I agree. They're having a five hour session tomorrow. They will skate together the whole time along with you and Christina. Look at the video."

I watch the video of Christina and I. We skated pretty well. At least, we did better than all of the other pairs.

"I'll film the whole session from above," she says. "We can watch the videos after the session, and decide once and for all if all four of you have what it takes to become pairs. We can tell them either later that evening, or the next day. Are we agreed?"

"Yes. Now about telling them about the pair thing, are you up to it?"

"It's either today or tomorrow, Will. We have to tell them before we train them."

"They'll have less time to react at that point," I say. 'It'll be better for them, because they can't back out."

"After they've gotten over the fact that they'll be skating together, the quality of the skating will be better," Anna fires back. "We have to tell them. It'll be less bothersome for them anyway. Everyone has to show up. I'll tell them that it's required from the Olympic Association here in the US. They can't back out then."

**Tris POV**

I see Anna and Will heading over here. "Christina, Four," I say, "our questions are about to be answered."

We all stand up, and Anna greets us. "We have your answers. I'm sorry for the wait. I'm sure you guys want to relax. Will approved of our plan, so here it is. We have been requested to have a few pair skaters by the Olympic Association here in the US. So, we have chosen our pairs. Tris and Christina, all of this was to pair the two of you up with someone. We have found the perfect pairs with the guys on the hockey team. So, the pairs are Will and Christina, and Tris and Four. Tomorrow, you'll skate together. Will and I will look over the skate film, and come up with a final decision to see if these pairs will work. See you tomorrow." Anna exits the arena, leaving the four of us alone.

"Well, I have something to do," Will says, and he leaves.

"Exciting, right?" Christina says. One glance at my horrified face, and she changes her mind. "You'll be fine, Tris," she whispers. "Plus, you got the hottie."

"Stop that Christina." I say.

She laughs and walks out. Four is still sitting there. "So, I'll skate with you tomorrow." I say, still not really grasping the idea. How will I ever be able to do both at the same time?

"Yeah," Four says. "I'm sure it won't be that bad." He gets up, and leaves the rink. I follow him out of the rink, and go home, dreading the next day. Maybe Four is right. It can't be that bad, right?

* * *

**Wow! Thanks to everyone who read this story! It was more than I could've imagined:) Virtual chocolates to everyone:) I'll try to update once every month. I'll definitely update once every two months. **

**Here's a horrible joke I found on a popsicle: Why didn't the hockey player want to pay for dinner? Leave answers in the review. I'll give a shoutout to the first person to get the correct answer. Rate and Review:)**

**~DauntlessPokemonRide. **


	3. Pairs

_"It was books that made me feel that perhaps I wasn't completely alone."_  
_- "Will Herondale, Clockwork Prince"_  
_~Cassandra Clare_

**Chapter 3**

**Tris POV**

The next morning, I was feeling a bit disturbed. Everything that had happened the night before had been like a dream. Wait… it was more like a nightmare. A skate partner? That could never happen. I planned on entering the Olympics as a solo skater. There was no way that we'd be as good as the other pairs, even if this petty project even worked.

As I got ready to skate, I began to think about all the other skaters who got the day off today. I mean, I like to try new things, but I like to relax as well. We all like to be happy, and I'm super serious about skating. In fact, I'm serious 99% of the time. I want to be happy at least 20% of the time, so I'm about 19% off. And it took Christina a few years to even get that one percent down.

I make my way down to the rink, and I'm not sure what to expect. From knowing Will, I know he's going to try to dissuade Anna from forcing him to skate with Christina. He says he sucks, but he's not bad. Though they are co-teachers, Will has always been more of the guinea pig.

I open the door to rink, and realize that I'm the first one here. The only other person here is Anna.

"Hey Tris," she says.

"Hi Anna," I greet. "Can I skate around a bit? I wanted to practice my step sequence."

"Go ahead Tris," Anna says. "As long as you can still skate strongly afterwards. We don't want you to be all tired when you skate with Four."

A shudder goes down my back. "Why do I have to skate with Four?" I ask.

"Didn't I explain this yesterday?"

"Yes, but out of all the people, why Four? Why not Caleb, or Al?"

"I'll show you."

Anna walks over to me, her phone in her hand. She looks a bit exasperated. She had a video up on her phone. "I taped this for Will. You should watch it. You'll be surprised. You two make a better pair than you would expect."

As the video starts, I pray that we'll do terrible, and Anna is making this up. I'll never get my solo routine perfected in time if this persists. We both skate next to each other. We glide across the ice in sync. Matching each other's moves perfectly. I face palm myself. Four and I did amazing. It looks like I'm going to be stuck with this after all.

I thank Anna for showing me the video, as realistically as I can, and skate on the rink to blow off some steam. I've been trying to convince myself that it isn't going to be that bad, but I'm miserably failing. I end up messing up my step sequence most of the time.

A while later, Will walks in. Christina and Four show up less than five minutes later. I hope that I don't look as flushed as I feel. Blowing off steam is something I do rarely, but I'm not the best at hiding my emotions. I don't want to come off angry, especially not at our first possible practice.

Anna comes up to three of us, with Will by her side. "I want you guys to warm up together. We'll be doing some light skating and practice going across the floor. If you do a spectacular job, then you'll try some twizzles. If you can get the sync pretty good, then you'll be official pairs. I'll work on budgeting your time to practice."

I slide onto the ice first. Christina follows me. "This must be a dream to you, huh?" I ask her.

"Of course!" she squeaks. "You'll enjoy skating with Four eventually."

"No I won't"

"Challenge accepted," she says as she skates toward Will.

I begin to panic a bit. "No, Christina, that's not what I meant!" I shout after her. I don't want her to play matchmaker. Doesn't she know that pair skaters can't participate in the Olympic if they are married to each other?

I sigh, and see that Four is skating in my direction. "Let's get this over with," I mutter.

"Ready to go?" he asks as he falls into place beside me.

"As ready as I'll ever be." I say.

We skate around for a while in silence, but it's not an awkward silence. I finally get some courage, and decide to ask him a question.

"So, is Four your real name?" I ask.

"As far as you know," he responds coolly. "But to answer your question, no it is not."

"What is your real name?"

He looks a bit uncomfortable. "A name that I don't want to use anymore." He speeds up a bit, as if he's trying to leave me behind, but I easily catch him.

"Where did you live?"

"I live here, in Chicago."

"Me too." I say. "I live around Millennium Park."

"So do I. I never saw you in school, when I was younger. I had a tutor , until I moved out off my parent's house and into an apartment. I was done with schooling by then."

"I never saw you at school either." I couldn't help but notice that he looked angry as he mentioned his parents. I'm eighteen and I haven't moved out yet.

"Why did you move out so quickly?" I ask.

"Nosy much." He responds. "I did what I needed to survive. I left at eighteen, and haven't looked back for two years, and I won't ever return. Now, I would appreciate it if you would stop pestering me." He skated as few strides ahead of me, and I sped up to catch him. We spent the next few hours in silence, with only the sound of our skates hanging in the air between us. We did a few more pair exercises. Anna told us that we ran out of time to do the twizzles, and the rink was on rent for the next hour.

"So," she says rubbing her hands together, "my decision is made. Will and Christina you guys need a bit more work, but you'll be a pair. Tris and Four," she says, "I made my decision on you almost instantaneously. You're a pair as well."

We glance at each other, and lock gazes. I look at his dark blue eyes, mesmerized for a second. Then I realize I was staring and quickly look away.

"Dismissed," Anna says, looking amused. No doubt she was watching us. I glance over at Four's expressionless face, and the back at Anna. I begin to pack up.

As I walk out of the rink, I decide to catch up to Four. There's something I want to do. I want to clear the ice between us, if we will continue to work together. "Sorry about all the personal questions," I say to him. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"Its fine," he says, looking over at me. "I'll see you later, then."

I smile at him. "I'm sure you will," I say. "We'll be forced to anyway."

I thought I saw him smile as he turned away.

"Oh my gosh!" Christina squeals. I turn tense all over. I didn't know she had been watching me. "You got him to smile. I've never seen him do that before. Neither has Will, and he was on the hockey team for a while."

As I turn to Christina, I can't fight off a smile. I don't know why. "You're so cute when you smile after I talk about Four," she teases.

My smile comes right off my face. "I don't like him," I say as I glare at her. "How about you and Will?" I ask, changing the subject. She blushes a bit. "That's what I thought," I say. "I'll text you when I get home." I walk past Christina, and towards my house. I can't help but smile when I think about skating with Four. I quickly try to turn my attention to something else. Christina can't be right. I'm not in love with Four. I'll never be. It's not meant to happen, I promise to myself as I walk home. Ever.

* * *

**Ah, there's Tris doubting FourTris again. I wonder if she'll ever let it work out...hahaha... well, I was supposed to study, but I felt like this story was calling me to update, so I did:) So, I read a lot of good books recently. Most recently, I finished The Infernal Devices, hence the quote at the beginning. Shout Out to luck8y, who got the riddle right. The answer is because he was a cheapskate.**

**~DauntlessPokemonRide**


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